


Under the Sea

by redradioflyer



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: M/M, Marriage Proposal, Mermaid show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 17:59:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17085053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redradioflyer/pseuds/redradioflyer
Summary: Matthew is a performer in a mermaid show, and he's enlisted his fellow merpeople to help him propose to his shy, taciturn boyfriend.





	Under the Sea

“My boyfriend, professional mermaid,” Matt says as he watches Matthew come up for air. “Just dandy.”

Matthew shoves Matt’s arm. “Hey now, professional mer _man_.” He squirms his tail in the water and gives him a crooked grin. “I could teach you how if you wanted. I’m pretty good at swimming in the tail now.”

He seems pretty proud of it too, and Matt doesn’t have the heart to tease him overmuch when he’s so happy. Matthew had trained for a long time to join up with the underwater show, and the past few months had been quite fun for him. So instead he turns his attention to Matthew’s coworker who just broke the surface of the water.

“You’re certainly better than that Frenchmen,” Matt says in a louder than necessary tone.

The Frenchman- who is honestly one of the most graceful performers in the water- just flips him off and proceeds to hit on the lovely American girl playing one of the lead roles. Amelia clearly likes his overdone French accent, and Matt acts disgusted. Matthew pinches his arm and tells him to be nice.

“I thought you were here to see me practice,” he says, and he splashes him. “Not make faces at my friends.”

Matt huffs and shrugs before stroking a hand through Matthew’s hair. The other man had been invited to come play in the water with his boyfriend, but what that meant was that he was going to sit with his feet in the water while Matthew lazily swims around him. It’s not that Matt can’t swim- he learned how when he was young- but he isn’t nearly as graceful in the water as Matthew or any of the performers in the ring. He couldn’t honestly give a shit about the others, but he doesn’t want Matthew to think any less of him.

So he sits like that and makes himself content with stroking the tangles out of Matthew’s wet hair. That’s perhaps why he doesn’t notice that all of Matthew’s coworkers are one by one slipping into the water and coming close. He only realizes when all of them rise up out of the water near them. Though he’s startled, he doesn’t say anything, and he merely arches his brow at Matthew who gives him a grin and disappears beneath the water. Suddenly, music starts playing over the speakers, and the gathered performers start to sing. Because they all work underwater and not in musicals, it becomes clear that the ones with the strongest voices are the ones singing while the others are swimming and dancing in the water as they’ve been trained to do.

It’s easy to recognize the song- it’s from  _The Little Mermaid,_ and it’s all about convincing the mermaid to stay in the sea. With little bit of clever editing here and there, it becomes about convincing Matt- an unlucky land creature- down into the ocean. After a moment, the performers close in on him and start trying to urge him down into the water. Realizing he’s been set up, he tries to take it gracefully.

And by gracefully, he means blushing bright red and letting the performers move him where they need him. They pull him down into the water, still taking turns singing and performing around him. Amelia takes the lead to pull him to a fixture in the center of the pool that’s a jutting rock for characters to come up and give their soliloquies or speeches or recite poems. They help him out of the water and onto it, and he suddenly becomes aware that he’s probably being filmed.

At the realization, he tries to make a cool face, but he still looks overwhelmed and flustered. He’s a bit on the pale side, and when his cheeks turn red, it’s incredibly noticeable. The song is getting to its climax, and Matt is looking for Matthew now. He thinks he’s starting to understand what’s going on here, but he has to find…

And then there Matthew is, rising up out of the water. Around his neck is a clam shell. Matt has to cover his face with his hands because he’s starting to smile very wide, and he’s too embarrassed to handle it. The best coping mechanism he has is to simply hide the ridiculous look on his face- too bad his ears are bright red and giving him away anyhow. Only when he feels Matthew’s hand on his knee does he pull his hands down enough so that he can see Matthew- though he keeps his impossibly wide smile covered with his hands. 

Slowly, Matthew opens the clam shell, a tasteful ring tucked inside. Then he says softly, “You’re the happy ending to my fairy tale, Matt. Will you marry me?”

As much as it surprises the surrounding performers who are so used to Matt’s neutral expressions, the man looks as though he may cry. Finally he takes a deep trembling breath and says, softly, “Yes. Yes of course.”

The gathered mermaids and players start to cheer and clap as Matthew slips the ring onto Matt’s finger. Matt slips down into the water now of his own accord to get a kiss and hug himself tight to Matthew. He hides his still red face against Matthew’s shoulder, and finally says, “So that’s what all those questions about surprise proposals was about last month.”

Matthew’s grin is sheepish as Matt pulls back just a bit. “You said a surprise proposal would be fun so I didn’t think you’d mind.”

Though his cheeks are slowly starting to cool off, he still looks flustered, and Matthew thinks it’s adorable.

“Yeah,” he says back. “Just thought you were hinting for me to propose to you. Thought I’d be on the other side.”

He grins though, clearly caught up in the joy of the moment. Matt steals another kiss before their friends are descending on them to celebrate too. The last thing that Matthew manages to say to him is whispered right against his ear, and it makes Matt flush bright red again.

“Don’t worry. We’ll move to a quieter pool for a  _private_ party later.”


End file.
